Interview time with Jinjer

Jinjer is an aggressive, in your face, groove metal band from Ukraine. The band has come a long way since their start back in 2010. With some line up changes, two releases and over 300 show dates, Jinjer not only paved their way to become the best metal act in Ukraine, but they have also garnered quite the fan base throughout the world.

Today sees the release of their third full length album 'King of Everything', a mixture of djent, thrash and groove metal with raw, fiery growls balanced by powerful clean vocals. The album is sure to be a hit and in anticipation of its release we sat down with Eugene Kostyuk the bassist of Jinjer to discuss the band, the album and the future.

Check out their latest song and video for 'Words of Wisdom' before you dig into the interview.

HI everyone, it's Eugene, the bassist of JINJER here with you

1. How did Jinjer come to be and what is the meaning behind the name?
There was no real meaning at first, as far as I know. The thing is that none of us was in the band when it was called JINJER, but from I was told, it was just name.... you know, when parents name a child John they don't usually put anything in it, just a good name. Though later on fans found a sort of a meaning, namely associating it with a distorted guitar sound: "jin-jer-jin-jer".

2. I see online that Jinjer doesn't like being compared to other female fronted bands. Why is this?
Because firstly we don't actually see the point in differentiating a band by a gender of a front-person! It's music and it doesn't have a dick, tits or whatsoever. It is higher than this. However our music has balls, if you know what I mean :)
Secondly I personally hate what that "female-fronted" devision turned into now - a bunch of naked and voiceless chicks doing a peep-show on stage. I am not saying all of them, but quite a lot... so we prefer to stand aside

3. What are some major inspirations and influences that helped the band become such a heavy hitting powerhouse of metal?
oh, there are lot of them. I think it is reasonable to start from out early years ispirations... back at those days - 10-15 years ago it was Guano Apes for Tatiana definately, Slayer, Death, Pantera for all of us. I used to be a big fan of doom metal, actually Tatiana loves Anathema too. She and I are big fans of Opeth, my favorite band of all times. Roman loves Lamb of God, we all listen a lot to Gojira, Karnivool, Twelve Foot Ninja and Textures. Tati also listens a lot to nonmetal music, she loves soul, rhythm and blues, funk and jazz.
We are fond of tons of different music... it often happens that we listen to Cypress Hill and House of Pain in our tour van!

4. You have already performed at some major festivals and contests, what has been the best moment so far?
Well, the best ones were at Zaxid festival in 2014 and 2015, at Bucovina Rock Castle in 2014, at FajtFest in 2014. So many of them, really hard to choose one.

5. Joining the Napalm Records family must of been a momentous point in your career. What were your thoughts when that happened?
To be honest, at first we felt a bit doubtful, but after I talked to Thomas Caser on scype all doubts vanished. It was you know a typical situation, I didn't even believe that it still happens this way. We released a Sit Stay Roll Over video and after two weeks we got a mail from Napalm... and as I told you, I though first "do we really need it?" "what will it bring to us?", I was a stupid pile of shit, hehehe. Now we are extremely happy to work with such a professional team! We realize that we managed to get a new level and leave the underground, awesome. It motivates a lot, I have to admit that we are working twice more productive after the singning with Napalm Records. And actually KING OF EVERYTHING was born thanks to Napalm!!! Before the signing we didn't plan a full length album, but the label pushed us to make it and we have brough to life a real masterpieace, at the moment this album is the top of our musicianship.

6. 'King of Everything' is to be released soon through Napalm, can you tell us a bit about the album? What can we expect from it?
Oh! You can expect everything and anyway it will overcome all your expectations. We have broken almost all limits. Composing the songs we at some point told ourselves that we would not keep ourselves inside the borders of one genre, and we broke free!
Despite the fact that we we had tight deadlines with Napalm to hand in the masterrecord, the process was really enjoyable and pleasant, for the first time we managed to work altogether as real team, in a very orginized way.
I can't wait until the release date when everyone will be albe to check it out

7. Were there any challenges along the way or was it smooth sailing?
As I told above, the only challenge was time! But we coped with that. As a result we are having the longest JINJER release ever.

8. If a listener only had a chance to hear one Jinjer track, which would you recommend?
Well, it is the track from the upcoming album - I Speak Astronomy... but if you cannot wait, then you should definately check out Who Is Gonna Be the One? or No Hoard Of Value

9. Throughout the years I have heard a couple of great bands from Ukraine, what is the scene and community like there? Any bands you want to give a shout out to?
There are cool bands! You ought to listen to Megamass, Space of Variations and Zlam!!! Magnificent bands!
The scene is developing and growing. New bands come up. We have festivals, a few open-airs gather around 15-20 000 people, and they have metal stages. There are oriented metal indoor festivals which can have about 1000 visitors. It is going better and better.

10. Whats next for Jinjer after 'King of Everything' is released?
Oh! Touring touring touring and once again touring!!!! We really hope that we will have a chance to tour the USA and the UK finally, and Latin America too.
I think we will spend this and next year on tours, and we will start working on the next album at the end of 2017

I really appreciate you taking the time to sit down with us at Metalhorizons. I'm going to go and listen to Cloud Factory again as I eagerly await July 27th. Do you have any final words for your fans?
Thanks for the interview too. Guys all over the world, keep supporting real music, real metal! Be open-minded, look for something new, and learn to value true talent and dedication. JINJER for all \m/